Wins from Pole and Debuts new Haircut!

Sunday April 27^th at Circuit Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain: Kimi Raillonen turned his pole position gained from a last second fast lap in qualifying yesterday into an overall win today, leading pretty much from start to finish. Two time world champion and Spanish hero, Fernando Alonso, looked set to turn his front row starting spot into a podium position but dashed the hometown crowd’s hopes when he pulled his Renault off the track on fire with a blown engine just laps from the finish. This put his ex-Maclaren teammate and arch rival, Lewis Hamilton, back on the podium after less than stellar performances in his last couple of races. Raikonnen’s Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa took second place, while BMW’s Robert Kubica continued to show his speed and came home fourth. It was another race of attrition with a large chunk of the field not making it to the finish. Most notable was Hamilton’s Maclaren partner, Heiki Kovalainen who speared a tire wall at massive speed after his left front rim exploded. At writing time, Kovalainen was reported to be in stable condition with minor injuries—surprising given the damage to his car. The F1 season continues to be eventful and even with the Ferraris currently dominating, given its early days and with multiple teams and drivers showing speed, is far from a foregone conclusion. 

More at Formula1.com

The Volkswagen/Audi group is leading the charge for diesels in America. And diesels are probably the best near future solution for decreasing passenger car fuel consumption. So to start getting their message out they’ve launched a new website called Responsible Mobility. The site outlines their current diesel product initiative including the forthcoming Audi Q7 3.0 TDI and VW Jetta TDI, and gives a glimpse of mid term new vehicles like the lightweight VW UP! range. The site is a little light on deep insight but its definitely worth checking out to get an idea of where VW and Audi are going when it comes to sustainable automotive options. I just want a ride in the passenger seat of one of their R10 TDI race cars.

Does the smell of race fuel in the morning smell of victory? Do you turn your head when you hear a desmo twin with carbon fiber cans? Can you tell the difference between a Porsche flat six at full chat and a Ferrari V12? Do you know what offset your rims are? And what tire pressure you should be running? Do you know who won the last F1 race? And where the next one is? Then you’re an Autofiend and welcome to my blog.

I’m Steve Levy, I’m a co-founder of Overamerica Media Group. We publish a couple of print magazines, BPM and Vapors, some websites, including C16mag.com and autofiends.com. We have a marketing division which puts on fun events and plays quite well in motorsports. I manage the automotive and motorsports marketing aspects of the business and do some editorial duties too. So I’m immersed in automotive culture and like to think some of my experiences and a few of my opinions are valid–which is why I’m here.